Closure with spout securable in non-use position



July 24, 1962 E. G. AKERS 3,045,880

CLOSURE WITH SPOUT SECURABLE IN NON-USE POSITION Filed July 6. 1959 FIG.Z.

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A Trae/wey United States Patent Oiiice 3,345,880 Patented July 24, 19623,045,850 CLOSURE WITH SPUT SECURABLE EN NGN-USE PSlTlON Edward G.Akers, 7652 Coolgrove Ave., Downey, Calif.,

assigner, by mesne assignments, of thirty-two and onethird percent toWoodrow S. Wilson, thirty-two and one-third percent to Edward G. Akers,thirty-two and one-third percent to Deli M. Malick, three percent toEdward D. Erian Filed July 6, 1959, Ser. No.. 825,176 Claims. (1.222-536) This invention relates to new and improved closures.

Although an extremely large number of different types of closures areknown there exists at the present time a very definite commercial needfor closures capable of being easily opened and closed possessinggreater cost and utilitarian desirability than known, existingstructures. In 'this field cost is of primary importance since any newclosures developed must be sold in competition with a number of more orless related prior structures.

A number of factors enter into the cost of a closure. One of these issize. Because of the comparatively high cost of the materials employedin most closures it is normally desired to provide closures which are assmall and hence, as light in weight as conveniently possible. Also it isnormally desired to provide closures which are comparatively small sothat they can be used without difliculty to replace prior lids, caps andthe like used on existing metal containers. In certain commercialfields, such as in the marketing of oil, lighter fluid and the like,such lids and caps are practically always of a comparatively small size.

From the aforegoing it will be seen that there is a need for small,inexpensive closures. To `be acceptable in present markets such closuresmust include an elongated spout which can be conveniently opened for usein dispensing various materials. There is a corresponding need forclosures in which such a spout can be moved to a closed position inwhich it does not interfere with stacking or shipping. Further, becauseof cost considerations there is a need for closures of the generalcategory indicated above which can be formed of one piece instead of twoor more pieces.

A broad object of lthe present invention is to provide new and improvedclosures meeting these needs. A more specic object of the presentinvention is to provide low cost, small sized closures which can beeasily and conveniently formed in a single operation by known injectionmolding techniques. A still further object of the present invention isto provide closures -which include as an integral part of them anelongated pouring spout capable of being moved from a closed,substantially flat position to an open, extended position or vice versa.Another object of this invention is to provide structures of thiscategory in which means are provided for forming a seal with respect tothe pouring spout, which means are also capable of holding the spout ina fixed, closed position, so as to avoid the use `of separate hold downor latch means.

These and many other objects and advantages of this invention will befully apparent to those skilled in the art to which this inventionpertains from a detailed consideration `of the remainder of thisdescription, including the appended claims and the accompanying drawingin which:

FEG. l is a perspective View of a closure of this invention in an openposition;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of this closure in this position;

FIG. 3 is a crosssectional view taken at line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view `similar to FIG. 3 showing this closure in a closed orsealed configuration;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 of a modified closure of thisinvention; and

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional "View taken at line 6-6 of FIG. 5.

The accompanying drawing is primarily intended so as to clearlyillustrate several presently preferred forms or embodiments of thisinvention. Those skilled in the art to which this invention pertainswill realize that the particular closures illustrated may be changed ormodiiied in accordance with routine design and development skill withoutdeparting from the type of action embodied in these closures.

As an aid to understanding -this invention it can be stated inessentially summary form that it concerns closures, each of whichincludes a peripheral or edge portion holding an upstanding rear wall ofa relatively rigid character. Between this wall and the peripheralportion in a closure of this invention there is provided a flexiblediaphragm carrying an elongated, relatively rigid spout so that thisspout, in an open position, is spaced from this wall. This rear wall isprovided with a plug resembling a common cork which is 4adapted to fitwithin the spout when the spout is moved or rotated to a clo-sedposition so as to form a seal with the interior of the spout and so asto hold this spout in this closed position. These various parts are, ina closure of this invention, formed integrally with one another.

The `actual nature of this invention is best more fully explained byreferring directly to the accompanying drawing. in FIG. l there is showna closure 10* of this invention formed as an integral unit out of knownthermoplastic materials such as polyethylene, polypropylene, variousvinyl resins or the like by known injection molding techniques. Thisclosure 10` includes a peripheral skirt t2 having sufficient thicknessso `as to be of a relatively rigid character. If desired, the skirt 12may be formed integrally with a container such :as a bottle, a tube orthe like or may be formed so as to include a snap bead, threads or thelike so that the entire closure 10 may be att-ached toa can or othertype of container in a known, established manner. From the skirt 12there projects an upstanding, moon-shaped, curved back wall i4. The Wall14 is also preferably sufficiently thick so as to be of a relativelyrigid character. A curved upper edge 16 of the Wall i4 is attached to adiaphragm 13 of sufliciently thin wall section so as to be of aflexible, deformable character. This diaphragm 18 consists of a top 20of generally a half moon shape and an attached front wall 22. The wall22 is attached to a top 24 of the closure l() which is secured to theskirt 12 and to the ends of the wall M.

An elongated spout 26 is secured to the top 22 between the edge 16 andthe front wall 22 in such a manner that this spout 26 has ends 23 `and3d located on opposite sides of the top 2t?. Preferably the spout 26 hasa sufcient wall thickness so as to -be relatively rigid and is taperedas indicated in FIG. 3 so that a passage 32 extending through it is oflarger dimension adjacent to the end 28 than adjacent to the end 30. Ifdesired, this end 30 may be pointed slightly las shown in the drawing soas to facilitate the use of the spout 26 in dispensing lighter fluid orthe like.

With this construction the entire closure 10 may be closed rby thesimple expedient of moving or rotating the spout 26 from the openposition shown in FIG. 3 of the drawing to the closed position shown inFIG. 4. During such rotation a small plug 34 resembling a common bottlestopper and having a tapered exterior wall corresponding to the internalshape of the passage 32 adjacent to the end 23 will gradually be forcedwithin this spesse@ end 28. When the spout 26 has been rotated to theclosed position shown in FIG. 4 in effect, the plug 34 is 'forced withinthe end 2S of this spout 26 so as to securely form a seal within theinterior of the passage 32 and so as to firmly engage the spout 26 so asto hold the spout 26 in this closed position. From this description itwi-ll be realized that friction between the plug 34 and the spout 26 isused in both forming a seal and in holding the spout 26 in a closedposition.

It will also be realized that with this type of construction the plug 34serves two separate and distinct functions. One of these is that theplug 34 forms a seal. The other one of these functions is that the plugin effect serves as a latch securing the spout 26 against movement.Thus, the use of the plug 34 eliminates the necessity for using with theclosure 1t) separate latch or holding parts which would otherwise haveto be formed upon or used with this closure. Such separate parts requirerelated closures to be of comparatively large physical dimensions.

This latter is quite important as -far as the utilitarian value ofclosures as herein described is concerned. Closures, such las theclosure 1t), are primarily intended to be used `with containers forlighter fluid, oil and the like where the sizes of these closures arecritical. ince both the holding and sealing functions are performed inthe same area in the closure lil, closures of this type can easily beformed of a comparatively small size for such uses. As an example ofthis `a closure, such as the closure 10, can be manufactured so as tohave a diameter of less than one inch.

Further, such a closure can have a spout, such Aas the spout 26, formedof virtually any desired length so that such fa spout in an openposition is suciently long to be conveniently used and so that such aspout in a closed position project-s from the remainder of the closureitself so that it can be conveniently engaged by the hand of anindividual in being moved or flipped into an open position. From anexamination of the drawing it will be realized that in such lan openposition a spout, such as the spout 26, extends generally parallel to awall, such as the wall 14, while in a closed position it is located atsubstantially a right angle to this wall `and is held by the rigidity ofit.

In FIG. 5 there is shown a modified closure 4@ of the present inventionwhich is similar to the closure 1t) previously described. `Forconvenience of explanation those parts of the closure 4d which areidentical, or substantially identical, to corresponding parts of theclosure l@ lare not separately described and are indicated in thedrawing and in the specification by the primes of the numeralspreviously employed.

The closure 4t) differs from the closure l@ by adding to it a smallannular flange 42 extending from the wall 14 around the plug 34 so as todescribe an annular channel 44 -between it tand the plug 34. Thischannel 44 is of a shape corresponding to the shape of the exterior ofthe end 28 of the spout y26 and provides an additional element to holdthe -spout 26 in a closed position by friction as indicated in FIG. 5and to form a seal around the exterior of this spout 26.

It is not normally considered necessary, but if desired, the closure 4t)may be provided with small parallel arms 46 extending from `the top 24which are adapted to resiliently engage the spout 26 so as to hold it inthe closed position indicated. Such arms 46 are, of course,

Vof a sufficiently resilient character so as to snap around the spout 26when this spout is being moved to or away from the closed positionshown.

It will be realized from the aforegoing that the present inventionprovides closures which can be easily 'and conveniently manufactured ata low cost Iby known injection molding `techniques so as to be ofunitary character, which closures differ from prior related closuresbecause they can be formed of a comparatively small size enabling themto be used in markets where such prior related closures could not ybesatisfactorily used. Because of the nature of this invention it is to beconsidered as being limited only by the appended claims forming a partof this disclosure.

This application is an improvement of the prior copending applicationsSerial No. 630,398, filed December 24, 1956, entitled Combined Spout andClosure Structure, now U.S. Patent No. 2,893,611, and Serial No.631,944, tiled December 31, 1956, entitled Combined Pouring Spout andClosure Structures, now U.S. Patent No. 2,893,612.

claim:

l. A closure which includes: a rigid peripheral skirt; a rigid,upstanding back wall attached to said skirt so as to extend therefrom; aexible diaphragm attached to the edges of said wall remote from saidskirt and to said skirt so as to cover said peripheral portion; `a rigidspout held by said diaphragm so as to extend therefrom, said spout beingspaced from said wall and said peripheral portion in an open positionand including ends -located on opposite sides of said diaphragm, saidspout having a tapered passage formed therein extending between saidends, said passage being larger at the end of said spout adjacent tosaid wall than at the other end of said spout; a plug having a taperedexterior wall corresponding to the dimensions of said end of said spoutadjacent to said wall mounted on said `wall so as to extend therefromtoward said diaphragm and toward said end of said spout, said spoutbeing capable of being moved from a normal open position in which saidpassage is open 'between the sides of said diaphragm to a closedposition extending generally along said skirt, said plug fitting withinsaid passage in said closed position so as to form a seal with theinterior of said passage and so as to hold said spout against movement.

2. A closure as defined in claim 1 including an annular flange locatedaround said plug, said flange being separated from said plug by anannular channel corresponding to the shape of said end of said `spoutadjacent to said wall, said ange fitting against said spout when saidspout is in said closed position so as to form a seal around theexterior of said spout and so as to hold said spout against movement.

3. A closure which includes: a peripheral skirt; a relatively rigidupstanding back wall attached to said skirt so as -to extend therefrom;a exible diaphragm attached to the edges of said back Wall remote fromsaid skirt and to said skirt so as to enclose an extremity of saidperipheral skirt; a rigid spout held by said diaphragm so as to extendtherefrom, said spout being spaced from said back wall and said skirt inan open position and including ends exposed on opposite sides of saiddiaphragm, said spout having a passage formed therein extending betweensaid ends; combined sealing and holding means located on said back walladjacent to an end of said spout, said combined sealing and holdingmeans, at least part of said means being capable of fitting within theadjacent end of said spout in a closed position of said spout, saidspout being capable of being moved from a normal open position in whichsaid passage is open between the sides of said diaphragm -to a closedposition extending generally across said skirt, said part of said meansfitting within said passage in said closed position so as to form a sealwith respect to said passage and so as to hold said spout againstmovement.

4. A closure as defined in claim 3 wherein said combined holding andsealing means comprises a single plug having a tapered exterior wallcorresponding to the dimensions of said end of said passage adjacent tosaid back wall.

5. A closure as defined in claim 3 wherein said plug means comprises aplug capable of fitting within said end of said passage in said closedposition and an annular ange located so as to extend around said plug,said an- A Ai nular flange fitting against the exterior of an end ofsaid spout in said closed position so as to form a seal around theexterior of said spout.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 145,999Hallock Dec. 30, 1873 187,561 Rightor Feb. 20, 1877 1,913,895 Paull June13, 1933 Schnabel Nov. 19, 1940 Rieke Aug. 28, 1951 Wheaton Mar. 10,1953 Davis May 8, 1956 Bryant Dec. 11, 19'56 Sherbondy Feb. 19, 1957Wilson et al July 23, 1957 Olson et al. Oct. 1, 1957

